The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam has been feeding my latest curiosity, grain-free cooking and baking. The day I received this book I was so excited by the potential of all of the recipes … no special binders required, short ingredient lists, seriously whole foods oriented. And this cookbook did not disappoint. After sampling one of the crumble recipes and enjoying these Chewy Chocolate Cookies, I didn’t hesitate to place an order for a nice hefty bag of almond flour!

These chewy chocolate cookies are rich and decadent in chocolate flavor and have a lovely tender, chewy texture. Although, delicious on their own, we took them up a notch by sandwiching them together with frosting!

Elana recommends blanched almond flour, which I am sure is superior. If you are like me and just have some raw almonds on hand and want to trial this recipe out, pulse them in your spice grinder until a mealy/floury consistency is reached. This happens very fast, do not overgrind lest you end up with almond butter. Using a mesh sieve, sift the almond flour to extract the finest bits to use for your flour. Repeat until you have the amount you need. Don’t fear waste either; you can turn any rejects into almond butter!

Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the sweetener(s), oil, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in your medium bowl, until well combined.

Scoop the dough by the tablespoon onto your prepared baking sheet. I found the dough to be just a touch sticky but fairly pliable, allowing me to loosely roll them into balls.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Do not overcook them. The tops of the cookies will start to look a little dry and crack a bit when done, but not as much as chocolate cookies that contain eggs. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet or a wire rack for 30 minutes.

If making sandwich cookies, spread frosting (however much you want!) on the bottom of one cookie and top it with the bottom of another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Take a bite, smoosh and enjoy.